Soccer 24-7 Blog

Primadonna – too much heart not enough head.

By Heneage

Diego Armando Maradona is by far Argentina’s greatest son. The star of their 1986 world cup win, the little magician blended pace, skill and trickery to become one of the world’s best players. On the field he captained the side with a ferocity and heart which few Argentine captains since him have shown.

So when in November 2008 he was named as the new manager of the national side, the theory seemed clear, great leader on the pitch means a great leader off the pitch. However, one thing that appears to have been overlooked about Maradona, is his volatile nature, which is best encapsulated in the now infamous celebration during World Cup 94, in which he screamed at the camera like a man possessed.

And this is where his detractors distaste stems. When you look at the starting line up from Montevideo on Wednesday there are notable absentees. Esteban Cambiasso, Walter Samuel, Nicholas Burdisso, Javier Zanetti, Fernando Gago, Maxi Rodriguez, Diego Milito and Lisandro Lopez. The list reads like a who’s who of Argentine talent based in Europe, a second XI almost.

Maradona has had very public fallings out with players, he ignored Gonzalo Higuain for much of this World Cup campaign, whether this was due to the Madrid strikers River Plate connections it is unknown, but he did his chances of future selection no harm by scoring on his debut against Peru Saturday evening.

But the night in Buenos Aires belonged to another striker, 36 year old Boca legend Martin Palermo, who’s international career looked finished when he famously missed 3 penalties in a 3-0 victory to Colombia some ten years previous.


And it was deep into injury time that the big target man pounced on a speculative cross shot to tap in during what can only be described as torrential wind and rain in the countries capital. And while Maradona may now seem validated in his selection of Palermo, and Wednesday’s hero Mario Bolatti who struggled to make Porto’s first team last year you fear this may have been more luck than judgment, and questions are to be raised over these players ability to perform next summer in South Africa.

During his tenure of just under a year Maradona has handed international debuts to more than seven players with his last squad including ten domestic players. And this is why many are tipping Diego to struggle next summer, he has already in his short time as manager shown a leaning towards managing with his heart instead of his head. While it would would be fantastic to have 23 domestic players like the Italy squad of 2006, in modern football this is often difficult to achieve, and players must be picked on merit not location.

Maradona now must put aside his own grievances with players and much like Capello with England pick the best eleven available, if he is to stand any chance of reclaiming the World cup for his country almost a quarter of a century after he lifted the famous trophy himself.